Armin Hansen (San Francisco, California, 1886 - Monterey, California, 1957), native of San Francisco, was a prominent American painter of the En plein air school, best known for his marine canvases. His father Hermann Hansen was also a famous artist of the American West. The younger Hansen studied at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art and the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, and achieved international recognition of his scenes depicting man and the sea off the California northern coast. He was elected to the National Academy of Design in the year 1926.
After his studies in Germany, Armin Hansen taught at the University of California, Berkeley and in 1913 moved to paint in Monterey, a budding art colony of the era. In this period he utilised both painting and etching techniques in the style of Impressionism. He was a founder of the Carmel Art Association and became enamoured of creating marine scenes, particularly involving man's relationship with the sea.
[Oil on canvas, 101.6 x 127.2 cm]
Thomas Schaller is a recent transplant to southern California following a very successful 20 plus year career in New York City as an architect and architectural watercolour artist. He has long been considered one of the foremost architectural illustrators in the world.
In the field, he has won many awards for his artwork - including being a two-time recipient of the Hugh Ferriss Memorial Prize. He has written two books; the best-selling, and AIA award of merit winner, Architecture in Watercolour, and The Art of Architectural Drawing. He has lectured widely, and hosted many watercolour workshops. His artwork has been exhibited around the world including at the Art Institute of Chicago, a mid-career retrospective at The Graham Foundation, The American Society of Illustrators in New York City and at the Aedes-East Gallery in Berlin.
[Watercolour on paper, 12 x 9 inches]
A full time artist, Simon Birch is a young Hong Kong artist who's made a huge impact with his energy and vision in the last few years. Apart from his critically acclaimed, dramatic paintings, he's managed to produce overwhelming installations, curated wonderful exhibitions, collaborated with leading artists, and produced high profile commissioned works.
Of Armenian descent, born in Brighton in 1969, Birch began painting at a very early age, he is self taught. He has pursued a versatile career, which has included design, music and sport, but he has continued to paint throughout his life. He has been a resident in Hong Kong since 1997.
[Oil on canvas, 72 x 72 inches]
Sargent, like many artists of his age, greatly admired the work of the seventeenth-century Spanish master Diego Velazquez. In composing this painting, Sargent recalled Velazquez's Las Meninas, a famous portrait of a young princess with her maids that he had copied during a trip to Spain. Sargent adapted Velazquez's mysterious spaces, his silvery gray palette, and the way his princess directly confronts the viewer. Sargent posed the Boit girls in the elegant interior of their Parisian apartment, using as props the two large Japanese porcelain vases that travelled with the family back and forth across the Atlantic. The daughters are dressed alike in casual clothes, but only the youngest engages the viewer, while the older girls recede progressively into the shadows, becoming increasingly indistinct.
The painting masterfully transcends portraiture, presenting not only a likeness but also a brilliant meditation on openness and enigma, on light and shadow. Sargent's interest in the effects of light and in the psychology of modern life led him to explore Impressionism more fully, and he would later become one of its important advocates.
[Oil on canvas, 221.93 x 222.57 cm]
Stanley Sporny was born in Philadelphia in 1946. As a young adult, studying at the Philadelphia College of Art from 1964-68, he came under the influence of painter Sidney Goodman and ceramist William Daley. From 1969-72, at the University of Pennsylvania, he earned his MFA while under the direction of celebrated artists Neil Welliver, Red Grooms, Alex Katz, Alice Neel, Elaine de Kooning, James Brooks, Paul Georges, and Larry Poons.
As the graduating representative for the University of Pennsylvania, and sponsored by Alex Katz, he spent the summer of 1972 at the prestigious Skowhegan School. From Maine, Sporny travelled on a Fulbright Grant to Sri Lanka (1972-75) and subsequently spent nine years there, building a house and studio and starting a family. Because of terrorism and civil war Sporny moved back to the United States.
[Oil on canvas, 61.0 x 91.4 cm]
Lu Cong (born 1978) is a Chinese-American portrait artist and illustrator. Upon graduating from the University of Iowa in 2000, Lu Cong moved to Denver and taught himself to paint in oils in an effort to postpone attending medical school. Lu Cong currently lives and paints in Denver with his wife Laura.
[Oil on panel, 48 x 48 inches]
In his 1909 book, Landscape Painting, Birge Harrison (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1854 - Woodstock, New York, 1929) described colour as “dancing” in nature, and he was especially fascinated by the subtle tones in a wintry landscape. In this image, he painted the pinks and purples of a winter sunset reflected and diffused across broken ice. The dark boats trapped by the frozen water and the pale colours evoke an environment that is both harsh and beautiful.
[Oil on wood mounted on wooden cradle, 38.7 x 59.4 cm]
Landscape and marine painter Charles Paul Gruppe was born in Picton, Canada, September 3, 1860. Largely self-taught, Gruppe did study in Holland and a good portion of his work consists of Holland inspired scenes. He should not be confused with his son, artist Emile Gruppe, who painted many well-known New England scenes. He died in Rockport, Massachusetts in 1940.
[Oil on canvas, 82.7 x 121.6 cm]
The baby Jesus is sitting on the lap of his mother, the Virgin Mary. He is holding his hand up in a blessing. Before him kneels a king offering a gift of gold. This is Melchior, the oldest of the three kings who came to pay homage to the infant Christ. Behind Mary, in a red gown is her husband Joseph. According to tradition, Jesus was born in a stable. The donkey, the ox and the shabby straw roof remind us of this. The scene takes place against the background of a ruined palace with marble columns and steps. Pieter Aertsen painted this large, colourful panel in around 1560. It is a varied scene with many attractive details such as the rather homely basket of clothes beside Mary and the king's entourage with camels on the left of the background.
Only one of the three kings is pictured on this panel. In fact, the painting is no longer complete. It was originally the centre panel of an altarpiece. The other two kings were pictured on the side panels. The right-hand panel has been lost. The left-hand panel, depicting the Moorish King Caspar and his entourage, has been preserved. This king is offering a vase of myrrh.
Peter Klashorst (Peter van de Klashorst) (born Santpoort, February 11, 1957) is a Dutch painter, sculptor, and photographer. Klashorst specialises in painting and photographing young women, particularly from the Netherlands and several African countries. He also has a wife and children in Africa.
In 2000, in primarily Muslim Senegal, his art caused him to end up in custody of the police for some weeks. He was suspected of taking advantage of prostitution, inciting debauchery, and the production of obscene pictures, because he had painted local women in the nude. By bribing officials, he managed to buy his freedom, and he sneaked into the Gambia to flee the country. On another visit in 2003 he was also deported from Gambia for pornographic paintings.
[Oil on canvas, 150 x 105 cm]
John Koch (Toledo, Ohio, 1909 – New York City, 1979) was one of the key American Realists of the 20th Century. When the world seemed to turn its back on the realist tradition, Koch persisted and presented intimate views of his personal world. His paintings are populated with models, musicians, views of his studio, and his New York Apartment. Through it all, Koch was a quiet and understated voice who kept the heartbeat of the realist movement alive and respected.
Koch's compositions were elegant. His warm tones and colours invited you into his world where, as you investigate the contents, you discover treasures amongst his beautifully observed objects. The objects themselves are chosen with care and a sense of knowledgeable appreciation. In all his work, the intricacies of light permeate and penetrate to create airy spaces into which the viewer enters. John Koch was a well trained artist who delighted in his profession and created an impressive amount of work.
[Oil on canvas, 61.0 x 102.1 cm]
Painter, lecturer, teacher, illustrator and author, Henry Gasser was born in Newark, New Jersey on October 31, 1909. He lived, studied and worked in New Jersey for his entire life. His work demonstrated a sense of place and feeling that most could identify with. He often exhausted a subject which becomes evident when viewing the body of his work for many of his paintings are just slight variations of previously completed compositions. He felt that design was very important and meant the difference between a mediocre work and a truly professional one. It is here where Gasser excelled, his work demonstrates a sense of composition that gained wide spread appreciation for his work. He died in Orange, New Jersey in 1981.
[Oil on canvas, 76.4 x 91.2 cm]
Stefan Fiedorowicz, a Canadian now residing in Vienna, has amassed a most impressive resume with shows spreading out from Canada, United States and Europe. Fiedorowicz's work has often been compared to the great modernists of the past following the notable style of lyrical abstraction, a term meaning an opening to personal expression. While perhaps a compliment, this also seems a disservice to his striking talent.
Fiedorowicz possesses something more than a painter following in the footsteps of others before. There is a supreme depth to his work that captures a newer sense of Modernism, something that is sadly missing from the current art scene. His shapes and lines infuse his paintings with a richly exotic symbolism of style. There is purpose and psychology to his work, conveying a sense of confidence from a broad spectrum of experience. Fiedorowicz’s distinction as a modern painter is in his grace and amplitude in creating works that are engaging and powerful: they make more than a mark - they make a statement generating alluring and fascinating canvases.
Michael Bouger (freelance arts writer)
[Oil on canvas, 50 x 50 cm]
Around 1900 the growing middle class, the new employment opportunities for women, and the influx of immigrants led to the proliferation of ethnic eateries, which extended New York's dining culture beyond private homes, clubs, and exclusive establishments. Sloan (American, 1871–1951) noted in his diary in February 1909: "Felt restless so went to the Chinese restaurant and was glad I did for I saw a strikingly gotten up girl with dashing red feathers in her hat playing with the restaurant's fat cat. It would be a good thing to paint." Sloan's canvas, on which he worked from memory, may portray a woman of easy virtue, as her flamboyant attire and heavy makeup suggest. Yet, instead of any hint of reproach, Sloan conveys a light-hearted acceptance of her droll little performance as she feeds the cat while her slovenly companion feeds himself and two men look on with amusement.
[Oil on canvas, 66 x 81.9 cm]
Paul Cummings graduated from Cheltenham University in 1999 with a BA Honours under the tutelage of Anita Taylor, Bob Davison and Paul Rosenbloom. He has been working for the last decade within the creative industries as a digital art director within marketing and advertising for some of the largest global agencies producing work for international brand names. His current location is London and particularly the East End where lives and has a studio. Paul has been painting and producing print works that have been gaining popularity from the outset. His professional knowledge of the digital environment progressively impacts on his traditional fine art practice that he is currently engaged in.
“This is the latest landscape I have been working on and this scene depicts the East End of London representing the lowest end of the social income scale and is a locality of which the majority is surviving off welfare or otherwise on a very low income. An ad hoc vista is assimilated from the remorseless post war redevelopment that surrounds the subject matter. With an office butted tightly up against the shop with tower blocks rising ominously further behind. A flyover intrudes from above to cut up the city and communities with its inappropriate town planning. This picture clearly shows the rapid demise of the last expansion and social housing plans in the 50's and 60's.”
See: http://www.paulcummingsart.com/blog/
[Computer graphics, 100 x 100 cm]
William Hogarth (Bartholomew Close, London, November 10, 1697 – October 26, 1764) was a major English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from excellent realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects". Much of his work, though at times vicious, poked fun at contemporary politics and customs.
Hogarth lived in an age when artwork became increasingly commercialised and viewed in shop windows, taverns and public buildings and sold in print shops. Old hierarchies broke down, and new forms began to flourish: the ballad opera, the bourgeois tragedy, and especially, a new form of fiction called the novel with which authors such as Henry Fielding had great success. He drew from the highly moralising Protestant tradition of Dutch genre painting, and the very vigorous satirical traditions of the English broadsheet and other types of popular print. In England the fine arts had little comedy in them before Hogarth. His prints were expensive, and remained so until early nineteenth-century reprints brought them to a wider audience.
Hogarth died in London and was buried at St. Nicholas's Churchyard, Chiswick Mall in Chiswick. His friend the actor David Garrick wrote the inscription on his tombstone.
[Oil on canvas, 36 x 41.5 inches]
Armin Hansen (San Francisco, California, 1886 - Monterey, California, 1957), native of San Francisco, was a prominent American painter of the En plein air school, best known for his marine canvases. His father Hermann Hansen was also a famous artist of the American West. The younger Hansen studied at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art and the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, and achieved international recognition of his scenes depicting man and the sea off the California northern coast. He was elected to the National Academy of Design in the year 1926.
